WESTFIELD – All thirteen councilors signed on to a motion at the Oct. 19 City Council meeting to request the Westfield Gas & Electric Municipal Light Board to start broadcasting their monthly meetings on Westfield’s community access channel, and to archive them with Vimeo or similar playbacks.
In introducing the motion, At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean, II said this idea is not new, and “throughout the years we have tried to get this Board on video.” He noted that the Planning Board, School Committee, City Council, Finance and Legislative & Ordinance committees are all broadcast, and added that it’s more important now for the MLB since they moved their meetings to the G&E Operations Center at 40 Turnpike Industrial Road. “Out of sight and out of mind,” he said.
Bean said a good example of the need to broadcast was in the recent selection process of general manager for the municipal light plant, and referred to the Oct. 9 meeting at which three candidate finalists for the position were interviewed. “I went to those interviews. There were three people there,” Bean said.
Bean said he would like to refer the motion to the Government Relations sub-committee, on which he is a member, and invite members of the Municipal Light Board to attend to discuss the matter. Government Relations is chaired by Councilor Andrew K. Surprise, and Councilor Cindy C. Harris is also a member of the sub-committee.
During the discussion, At-large Councilor Matthew Emmershy asked that the Government Relations meeting be recorded; and added that he has a motion before that sub-committee to have all meetings recorded.
After the meeting, Council President John J. Beltrandi said that the motion did not have anything to do with the Open Meeting Law complaint against the MLB that was filed on Oct. 17 with the City Clerk’s office by resident Marc Lichwan, which challenged the general manager search process for the public utility.
Beltrandi called it “coincidental,” and said the Council wants all elected boards televised. “Everybody wants transparency,” Beltrandi said.
The Council President also said that he cancelled the joint meeting of the MLB and City Council, originally scheduled for 6 p.m. prior to the Oct. 18 City Council meeting to fill the Ward 5 vacancy on the MLB. He said he cancelled that meeting in order to review how the process of selection was going to work.
“I made the decision. There were too many moving parts,” Beltrandi said, adding that he would rather err on the side of caution and be certain of the process before holding the joint meeting.
